Otsuchi Bay
Organization
International Coastal Research Center, Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo
Research Theme
- Life histories of inshore Fishies and diadromous fishes
- Environmental physiology of marine top predatory animals
- Environmental pollution on coastal regions
Site Outline
Otsuchi bay is located at the center of the Sanriku coast, the northeastern part of Honshu, the mainland of Japan. The bay is 20.2 Km2 in area with 2 – 3 km width and 7 km length. The deepest part of the bay, 80 m, is located in the mouth and the depth decreases from the moth toward the inner part of the bay. Seagrass bed (Zostera bed) and algae bed (Sargassum and kelp beds) are distributed in the coast of the inner and center – outer area of the bay, respectively. The Tsugaru warm current flows along the coast from the north, and the Oyashio and Kuroshio meet off the coast. The water of Otsuchi bay is formed by mixing of offshore water and water from the rivers flowing into the bay (Otsuchi river, kozuchi river, Unosumai river). The bay provides a unique opportunity to study the biological, physical and chemical phenomena in both cold and warm water mass.
Contact
- Address : 2-106-1 Akahama, Ootsuchi-cho, Kamihei-gun, Iwate, 028-1102, Japan
- Name : Tomohiko Kawamura
- Phone : 0193-42-5611
- Fax : 0193-42-5612
- E-mail : kawamura@aori.u-tokyo.ac.jp